Before Breakfast

Chapter One

Ring Ring. Ring Ring. Ring Ring.

My eyes peeled open as I reached for my cell phone. The light burned my eyes. I squinted through the pain to see an unknown number plastered across the top of the screen. My eyes trailed up to the time on my alarm clock.

3:42AM stared back at me in a harsh neon red. I reluctantly answered the phone with a disgruntled greeting

"Hello?" I mustered.

"Del, I need you to come bail me out." My sister's slurred voice stung in my ears.

"Tara?" I muttered her name trying to catch my bearings. "What happened?"

"I didn't do anything wrong. Twelve wouldn't know his left from his right if his hands could fucking talk." She droned on. "Just don't call mom or dad. Can you pick me up or what?"

"Fuck." I weighed my options. If I didn't pick her up she would get one of her addict friends to get her, but if I did pick her up she wouldn't learn her lesson. I sighed. "I'll be there in an hour."

"You're the best," chimed from the other side of the line before a swift click ended the call.

I didn't need to ask questions anymore. I always knew which jail she would be at and that the only defense she had was that she was under the influence, which was not a good defense to have. It was never a mystery with Tara. She'd been in and out of trouble from the time she was a preteen and it had only gotten worse as she'd aged. First it was petty theft and now she'd worked her way all the way to DUI's, breaking and entering, and felony grand larceny. The only question I had when picking up Tara was what were the charges this time?

I pulled myself from out of bed and did my best to put on my shoes. I didn't bother putting on day clothes. At this point I was more than familiar with the officers at the Leon County Sherriff's Office.

Right before I pulled out of my apartment's parking garage I texted my mom and told her that Tara had been arrested again. I let her know that I was on my way to bail her out. My sister always showed up to court so there was no need for me to collect bail money, she just needed someone to sign her out into their custody. My mom's answer was almost instant. Since we lived more than 3 hours away there was no way for her to make it to the jail before me, but you better believe she would be at my sister's door tomorrow to give her a stern talking to.

I didn't have the willpower to read and respond to my mother right now, so I just kept driving and listened to the slow jams playing through my stereo system.

--

"What were you thinking?" I yelled at my sister who was obviously under the influence of some serious drugs.

"I didn't do it." She rolled her eyes at me, but I wasn't sure if it was from attitude or if she honestly couldn't keep her eyes straight. "The dude I've been seeing set me up!" Her accusations and excuses were giving me a headache.

"Whatever." I turned my playlist's volume up. Tara continued to gripe, but I only responded with nods and intermittent mumblings. I just wanted to go back to sleep. This was the fourth time I had to pick my sister up from some adverse situation. Every time I told her it would be the last, but my mom kept begging me to give her more chances. It just so happens that this particular time I picked her up she had hit three separate vehicles and fled the scene, running a red light that caught her on camera on the way out.

My mother's name flashed onto my screen as an incoming caller. My sister immediately started with her spiel about betrayal. I simply handed her the phone. The whole way to her apartment I caught intermittent quarreling between Tara and my mother.

By the time we reached my sister's place my mom was still finding new ways to say she was disappointed in her, which was quite a feat considering this was only the forty-second time my sister had been arrested. Tara pulled the phone from her ear, all the while our mom still yelling, and pressed end. She held the phone out to me and looked up.

"Thank you for picking me up." Her arm raised for a hug to which I complied.

"I love you, you know."

"I love you too lil sis!" She joked, but I made sure our eyes were locked.

"Mom and Dad love you too." She immediately started to retreat from the car, and all I was left with was the echoing sound of the door slamming and the light above me slowing fading off. Tara padded up the walkway to her steel gated door, entered a code, and then disappeared up the chain link fenced in stairwell.

I took a deep breath before I pushed the car into drive and pulled away from the curb.

5:56AM

My first class of the day starts in about an hour and a half, so I guess that means I'm up for the day. My head slammed against my headrest as I weaved through the early morning traffic.

"I guess I'll stop and get breakfast." I joked to myself and pulled into a Whataburger drive thru. The calming voice of a Whataburger employee droned through the speaker box.

"Welcome to Whataburger. What can I get for ya this morning?" My eyes blissfully rolled into the back of my head.

"I'll have a Honey Butter Chicken Biscuit meal with Hashbrown Sticks and a coffee please."

"No problem! Will that be all for you?" They chirped.

"Yes, thanks." I sighed as they gave me my total and pulled up to the window. I couldn't wait for the first sip of coffee hoping it would wake me up enough to get through my 7:30AM class.

The perks of having a sibling, I thought as I pulled out of the parking lot happily popping a hash brown into my mouth.